Filling-machine.



W. MU'NIL- FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION HLED APR. llI IQH 1,257,012. Patented Feb.-19,1 918 2 satn-snuff.

INVENTOR WITNESSES:

W. MUNN.

FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11. 1912.

1,257,012. Patented Feb.19,1918.

2 SHEETFSHEET 2- Fl'g3. i/

4 1 llllllWllil is I? J l WITNESSES: INVENTOR MZZZiZ/fl M272 W I 3rdAmlxm wrnmam norm, or ALAMEDA, camroimm.

FILLING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 19, 1918.

Application filed April 11, 1917. Serial No. 181,355.

To all whom it ma concern:

Be it known t at I, WILLIAM. MUNN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Alameda, in the.county of Alameda and State of California,have invented new and useful Improvements in Filling-Machines, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to filling machines of the type shown anddescribed in my prior application Serial Number 12,716, allowed January26, 1917; and has for its object to assist the material in the hopper insettling into the charging pockets in the turret, whereby a more rapidand certain filling of the pockets results.

As shown and described in my prior application, a revolving turretmember is an ployed, having a charging opening or pocket passing beneaththe hopper which contains the material, and a plate beneath the turretwhich closes the bottom of the ocket. Gravity is depended upon to causet e material in the hopper to settle in the pockets and except for theprovision of small bleed ports 'inthe plate, at the bottom of theturret, said. pockets are entirely closed dur-' ing the chargingoperation. As a consequence of this, material, and particularly that ofa sticky or plastic nature, will not readily settle into the pockets anda slower operation of the turret is therefore made necessary.

In the present device I provide suction means communicable with thecharging pockets when the latter are disposed bene th the hopper,whereby to exhaust the Eir therefrom. and assist the material in settlig within. Therefore, I am enabled to i-ncrease the rate of movement ofthe turret and by adding other plungers for discharging the materialfrom the pockets into the cams, I can greatly increase the number ofcans filled by a.single machine.

One. form which my inventionmay' assume is exemplified in the followingdescription and illustrated'in the accompanying drawings, in which.

igure 1 shows a plan view of a device embodying my invention.

-Fig. 2 shows a horizontal, sectional view in plan, taken on the line 22of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 shows a vertical, sectional view, taken on the line 33 of.Fig. 1.

Fig.4 shows a detailview,-in side elevation, of the turret.

Fig. 5 shows a sectional view of the vacuum or suction tank, taken onthe line 55 of Fig. 3.

A is a suitable framework having a bed 2 which is traversed by theendless conveyer belt 3. The belt 3 is supported on end pulleys 4-5;pulley 5 being fast on shaft 6, which is driven throu h the sprocketchain 7 from the drive shalt 8.

Mounted adjacent to the conveyer 3 is a vertical turret shaft 10,carrying the turret or measuring device 11 and the star wheel conveyer12; turret 11 being sufiiciently ele vated above the bed of the table 2to accommodate the cans 13, which latter are conveyed from the belt bythe star wheel 1.2 around beneath the filling devices and then returnedon to the belt, as indicated in Fig. 1.

15 1s a stationary hopper with a bottom 16 supported above the bed plateupon an arcuate, flanged plate 16, said bottom having one or moreopenings 17 adapted to register with corresponding charging andmeasuring openings 18 in the turret 11. As here shown, there are threeof these charging openings in the bottom of the hopper, so positionedthat each time the turret comes to rest, three openings 18 in the turretwill register with these three openings 17 in the hopper; it beingunderstood that the turret and star wheel and cans during the fillingoperation of the cans are given a step-by step movement in unison,through appropriate drive connections with the drive shaft 8. The turretcontacts at one side with the arcuate plate 16* and is rovided withradial orts 19, one for sac of the pockets 18. he said plate 16 has aport 1n its side to register w th the ports 19, and communicatingwithsaid port is a pipe 20 running to a vacuum tank 21 operated by a suctionpipe 22, whereby, when the ports are in register, suction will beapplied to the interior of a pocket 18 to ex air from the latter.

25 is a fixed bottom plate disposed immediately beneath a portion of theturret and extending from a point ahead of the first of the chargingopenings 17 to a point a little beyond Where the material is deaust thelivered from a pocket 18, and is adapted to support the material in thepockets while the turret is traversing the hopper and until the point ofdelivery is reached; This plate has an opening 27 which is approximatelythe same size as the can and is beyond the ,tra cted.

hop )BI, and is in the last ste of the turret before the can is returnerto the con veyer belt.

In line with and above the opening 27 is a filling plunger 29, which isreciprocable in guides 30, by suitable means. The motion of the plungertakes place during the period of rest of the turret and cans and at thetime that a can to be filled is in line beneath the opening 27 and acharge chamber 13 under it. a

The plunger 29 has a perforated plate 39 on its bottom, behind which anair chamber 40 in the plunger is formed, which chamber 40 connects withan air duct 41 and an 1nlet ort 42'; port 42 being adapted to registerat tile moment the plunger reaches its lowest point, with an air tube43, which latter may be connected with any suitable source-gt airpressure supply Preferably this air pressure is not very strong, but yetsufficient to admit air into the top of the can after the material hasbeen compressed so as to free the materialfrom the end of the plungerand prevent the latter being drawn upward and out of the can when theplunger is re The operation of the apparatus is as follows:

The cans are fed onto the belt and directed by suitable guideways 45into the star wheel or-- spider 12; the belt being operatedc0ntinuoi1s1y and the star wheel and filling mechanism intermittently.Step by step the cans are moved around with and beneath the turretcharging device 11, in line with pockets 18, and brought into registerwith the successive openings 17 in the bottom of -the hopper, the latterbeing charged with material to be canned.

In actual practice where these machines are now in use, the materialoperated upon is a pasty mass of about the consistency of deviled ham.As the charging member or turret 11 comes to rest, three pockets 18 arebrought into register with the hopper openings 17. will press down intoand fill the pockets 18 beneath. The pockets are closed by the plate 25and without suitable means to exhaust the air-therefrom, the materialwould not readily settle, the arcuate plate 16 is so positioned as to bein register with the radial poi-tin a pocket 18when the latter isbeneath the first of the openings 17 in the bottoni of the hop- Thesuction from the tank 21 will exlaust the air from the pocket 18and'allow the material to fill the same. The time dur ing which theports register should be 'very brief in order that the material may notbe sucked into the tank. However, a slight amount of material is boundto find its way into the tank and, therefore, I provide for The materialin the hopper However, the port incleaning out the latter by means of aswinging bottom plate 23. i

n the succeeding steps of the turret or charging member the material isfurther forced down through the dragging action of the turret beneath,by means of radial inclined deflecting plates 46, arranged in the bottomof the hopper between the openings 17. These deflecting plates and thesuccessive passage of the turret beneath the several openings 17 causesthe pockets as they leave the hop er to be completely. filled. Thefilled poc at is then'moved along the plate 25 until it stops over theopening 27 in plate 25 where the material thus being left unsupportedmay be dropped by gravity and under the charging action of plunger 29into the can beneath. The air passing through ports 4-1 and 42 serves tofree the face of the plunger from the sticky mass beneath and preventspulling up the mass when the lunger is retracted. In the next step thefi led can is deposited on the belt and carried off to any suitablepoint of delivery.

By the provision of suction means to exhaust the dead air from thecharging pockets no resistance will be oii eredto'the settling of thematerial within, and as a consequence the filling of the pockets will bemore quickly accomplished and there will be no uncertainty as to thesettlement of the material within. The use of this means to assist inthe charging of the hopper will so. increase the speed and efliciency ofcharging .priate receptacle according to the nature of the articlepackaged, or the desired style of the finished acltage, may be used.

Having thus escribcd my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Path ent is- 1. In a can filling machine, a hopper, a

charging member movable beneath and having a pocket to receive materialtherefrom and deliver it to a can, and suctlon means for exhausting theairfrom'the pocket to permit the material to settle within said pocketat the interval prior to its delivery to the can.

2. In a can filling machine, a hopper, a charging member movable beneathand having a pocket to receive material therefrom and deliver "it to acan, and means for exhausting the air from the pocket to permit thematerial to settle within, said means comprising a suction deviceadapted to reg ister with a port opening into the interior of the pocketupon the initial movement of the pocket beneath the hopper.

3. In a can filling machine, -,a hopper -a, charging member movablebeneath and hav ing an. open-ended pocket to receive material fromthe'hopper and deliver it tothe can, a plate beneath the chargingmembtir forming a temporary closure for the bottom ofthe pocket, andsuction means for exhausting the air from thepocket to permit thematerial to settle within said pocket when'soclosed.

4. In a can filling machine, a hopper hav ing a bottom provided with adischarge opening, a turret movable beneathtlie hopopening, a turretmovable beneath the hopper and provided with an open-ended pocketadapted'to register with an opening in the bottom of tlze hopper andreceive material therefrom for conveying it to a can a plate forming atemporary closure for the bottom of the ocket while the same is beingfilled, a suctlon device communicable with the pocket when the latter isbeneath the hopper to exhaust the airtherefrom and permit the materialto settle into theipocket, said sueper and provided with an open-endedpocket"tion device eoniprisi :g a vacuum tank havadapted to registerwith an opening in the bottom of the hopper and receive materialtherefrom for conveying it to a can, a plate forming a temporary closurefor the bottom of the pocket while'the same is being filled, and asuction device communicable with the pocket when the'la'tter is beneaththe hopper toexhaust the air therefrom and permit the material to settleinto the pocket.

5; In a can fillin machine, a hopper, a measuring receptacli therebeneath and in intermittent communication therewith, a bottom platenormally closing said receptaele and provided with a port through ing apipe leading to the turret, and a port in the turret opening into thecharging pocket and adapted to register with the pipe from the vacuumtank for an instant of time when the pocket is being moved into chargingWILLIAM MUNN.

Witnesses MISS M. BAXTER, J. H. VHERRING.

